Platte river power authority Reviews

This is regarding the PRPA board meeting yesterday. Many concerned customers of this utility have been engaging with PRPA staff and directors for years and we had great hopes when the latest Integrated Resource Plan came out. During the listening sessions on the IRP and during other meetings with staff, we pointed out the various flaws in the IRP and offered approaches that would improve it. The cost assumptions are flawed and because of the proprietary nature of much of the data assumptions we were not given the opportunity to test, evaluate, and model different scenarios based upon the raw datasets. A public utility accountable to public customers in four cities should not be allowed to conduct studies were there is not full transparency. In the future, any consultants used by PRPA should not be permitted to hide their assumptions behind a proprietary veil.

Almost every single member of the public yesterday who got an opportunity to speak expressed support of profile 3, which is 100 percent zero carbon and opposition to the purchase of a new gas plant as part of the portfolio. Fossil fuels, especially fracked gas, is simply not acceptable in what is an ongoing climate emergency.

Many of us have asked repeatedly that PRPA run models with interim goals. This should be combined with a concrete action plan, milestones, and goals to enforce accountability. Yesterday, the staff said there would be no action plan for meeting a 100 per cent goal or any other goal. This is simply unacceptable and contrary to all good management and planning principles. For example, at goal should be set for 2025 of at least 95 per cent zero carbon production with an assessment at that time of how the 100 per cent goals can be reached.

If, in the event that there is a future shortfall in generating capacity, this should be made with purchases based on regional compacts with other utilities.

As others have said, there were many people who were not permitted to speak yesterday because of time constraints. This is simply unacceptable prior to a decision of this magnitude in the midst of what has become an ongoing existential crisis.

PRPA customers were delighted and proud when the Board responded to our request to convert to carbon-free energy sources by 2030. After that pledge, a small army of regional experts with expertise in energy production, transmission and management rallied to PRPA to share their data and considerable expertise. For months, they have offered the latest information and advice to help make the goal a reality. I have watched closely as they have given hundreds of hours of their valuable time to speak to the Board and communicate with staff. If I were in business, I would jump at the chance for a free research team of this quality. But it appears to me they have been largely ignored, and the proposed portfolios that staff presented for consideration used incomplete or inaccurate data, were inadequate to the need, and were presented to the public with the message that the goal was unattainable without the construction of a boondoggle gas plant. Independent scientists and experts have proved that the goal of at least 90% by 2030 is both attainable and affordable without a gas plant. It is time for the Board to direct staff to do the necessary research, incorporate vision, generate a forward-thinking plan, and JUST GET THE JOB DONE.

I think it is very clean and is a great place for working!

Let me see if I understand this correctly. The chairman thought the comments were too repetitive? Was he perhaps hoping for someone to put in a good word for the use of fracked gas? Please. . . if the process seems to be generating a groundswell of negative responses to a proposed policy, perhaps you and the board, as servants of the people last time I checked, need to be paying attention to that. If it's inconvenient. . . well, so will be the deleterious effects of climate change if we don't pay attention and do the right thing. Just sayin'. . .

Very sad to hear that our Mayor cut people's comments off during a key meeting today. PRPA committed to 100% renewable energy and now they want to reverse their decision and put in another fossil fuel generated plant. What is going on? How many times to we have to fight this? Your actions today in this online meeting (everyone at PRPA) was unproffessional. The public will not stand for this and you will find that going against the will of the people will be fruitless. You just powered up a new activism movement. Terrible meeting today. Don't stomp on us - listen to us - we are the people who you serve - or did you forget this somehow???

This company is stuck in a fossil fuel love fest. They will get off coal and build a gas plant. They don't care that residents in this area don't want fracking. They don't care that this will further climate change. They don't care that this will mean stranded assets when the rest of the world moves to renewable energy. They won't even listen to their shareholders: US at board meetings.

Just a strange fact: While searching for the Google My Business site, I noticed that PRPA was listed as a 'solar business'. It has since miraculously been corrected to an 'electrical utility'.
Platte River Power Authority had their board of director's meeting today and it was unbelievably horrible...There was an amazing turnout of enthusiastic voices to speak from all four cities that are in PRPA! After about an hour of 3 minute comments from folks, Chairman of the Board, Mayor Wade Troxell said that we were cutting into their meeting time and we needed to reduce our comments to 1 minute and oh, by the way, could we not be so repetitive. All of the commenters were against the new gas plant they are trying to force on us, with just one exception.
The comments resumed for another 15 minutes at the reduced 1 minute time frame. Then, out of no where, Mayor Troxell just stopped the public comment. There were still several people in the queue waiting for their turn to speak when it was abruptly stopped.
The board of directors were behaving in unprofessional ways during our public comments - smirking, rolling their eyes, and generally some were making it quite obvious they didn't want to listen to the public. Let me remind them that on a Zoom meeting, the public is seeing everything. Someone needs to remind them of their duties as a board!
This is a publicly owned utility and as an owner, we have every right to be heard. Not cut off or limited in our speech. We demand that PRPA hear the people and insist that they do their job and figure out an equitable way to get us to 100% non carbon energy by 2030...Something they committed to, almost 2 years ago.

Wonderful group of people that are easy to work with. I am proud of the work they are doing to make our community even better.